In 1983 I received the Dux award; Redcliffe State High School - Queensland. I have a Bachelor of Physiotherapy [University of Queensland] - 1987 and a Master of Public Health [UQ, Griffith, QUT] - 2000. I have an interest in injury prevention as well as utilising photography for public health work for general health and wellbeing. I have written manuscripts utilizing photography on topics related to water safety, climate change, laughter therapy, rock jumping/drowning and motorcyclist helmet safety which you can read;
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Deborah-Hilton
I've also created you tubes related to other topics such as mental health and smoking prevention as well as rock jumping and burns prevention. https://www.youtube.com/@deborahhilton5719
I've also entered photographs into the Asia Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health photographic competition in 2019 which were placed 1st and 2nd.
https://www.apacph.org/wp/2019/11/apacph-early-career-network-photographic-competition/
This week is National Public Health Week—April 7-13, where we recognize the collective efforts that keep our communities healthy and safe. The theme is 'it starts here'. This acknowledges the beginnings, the importance of laying a foundation and the need to take action.
I've put some of my photographs taken in India 2024 and my narrative below.
I'm interested in other people's photography in relation to public health. According to Wikipedia, photovoice is where photographs are gathered and narratives are taken by participants to translate their experiences into actionable knowledge. There are organisations that work to develop this methodology [https://www.photovoiceworldwide.com/].
This is one published abstract by Pombu CR, Benu JMY, Kiling IY. A photovoice study on the meaning of life in widows. J Women Aging. 2023;35(1):128-137. doi:10.1080/08952841.2022.2052545.
Abstract
This study aimed to picture the experience of the meaning of life in widows by using a photovoice approach with thematic analysis. The participants involved were 10 widows living in West Timor, Indonesia. The results of the thematic analysis show that the meaning of life in widows relates to the following three themes: the spiritual meaning of life, risks of abuses and harassment, and supporting systems for widows. The photovoice approach managed to spark social change and improve community awareness on issues threatening widows' well-being.
I am wanting to collate some ideas around National Public Health week. Send email me your photograph stating why you selected this, where it was, why is it relevant to public health and how it relates to the theme. My email is deborah.hilton@gmail.com It doesn't have to be overseas, but even from your back yard. If you are happy that others view this plus your short description, I will add these to this site including your name and this will create a community forum of ideas. If you are happy with this, I will add the first ten photographs emailed to me to this page. You can also send me comments re; other people's photographs.
I will at completion summarize these ideas & without specifying names [in the summary you will be anonymous]. I will create an abstract for submission to a Public Health Association of Australia conference or conference held elsewhere. I've put four photographs below as examples to view. Let's get snapping our photos! Thank you for your participation.
First two photographs; These gentlemen in India were dragging carts fully laden with bricks along busy streets. Most of them had no hats to shield their faces from the sun, and many did not have shoes to protect their feet. They were not carrying backpacks, so probably had no lunch, water bottles and / or no first aid supplies either. I did not have a hat, sunscreen, water bottle or first aid supplies on that day to give to them, but I had some random gifts I could give. Ideally, I wished I'd had some hats, sunscreen or 1st aide supplies to gift to them.
The third &fourth photograph. Road traffic safety in India is partly as a result of poor infrastructure & inadequate funding. Rickshaw drivers have vehicles without the modern safety features & technological inventions including usually no seat belts, air bags, reversing cameras & beepers. Our Rickshaw driver yet was still so pleasant, kind & courteous to us as he faced the onslaught of traffic, negotiating the buses, trucks, carts, bicycles, pedestrians & even cows by beeping as he changed lanes. I was so surprised by this & in fact it made me embarrassed to an extent by some Australian drivers I know as they can become angry & discourteous over nothing, yet this Rickshaw driver remained positive the whole time as I guess he is used to the difficult conditions. You can see in the fourth photograph that vehicles were not driving in lanes. According to the World Health Organisation; [https://www.who.int/health-topics/road-safety] road traffic injury results in the death of approximately 1.19 million people & leaves between 20-50 million people with non-fatal injuries around the world each year. Sadly, low- and middle-income countries account for 90% of fatalities on the roads. One day I did have a small first aid kit extra to give our Rickshaw driver & he was so thankful even though it wasn't a complete kit.
